Keith Floyd died hours after lunch to celebrate cancer all-clear

Keith Floyd, the chain smoking, hard drinking television chef, has died from a
heart attack only hours after a lunch to celebrate being given the all clear
from bowel cancer.

Keith Floyd had recently been given the all clear from bowel cancer
Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Andrew Pierce and Andrew Hough

7:30AM BST 16 Sep 2009

After the lunch he returned to his partner’s Dorset home and excitedly told friends on the telephone that he had not felt so well for years. Floyd, a forerunner of television chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, had settled down on the sofa to watch a Channel 4 documentary about his 25 years in the public eye when he suffered the heart attack and lost consciousness.

Celia Martin, his partner who was 65 on the same day, frantically tried to revive him as the emrgency services operator relayed instructions over the telephone. Paramedics, who arrived shortly afterwards, battled in vain for 45 minutes to save the chef who appeared in 23 television series and wrote 19 books.

Mrs Martin said: “When we got home he had a siesta and got up feeling a bit headachy. He laid down on the sofa and I thought he went to sleep. Then suddenly his breathing became erratic.The ambulance people were here for about an hour. They thought there was a chance they could save him. It was so bizarre, we were sitting down to watch the documentary at 10pm but by that time he had died.”

James Steen, who ghost wrote Floyd's memoir Stirred But Not Shaken which comes out next month, said: “I spoke to him on the telephone at 7pm when he told me had a great meeting with the cancer specialist that morning. They had told him they thought he was in the clear but to slow down on the alcohol.

“He went to lunch with Celia to celebrate and to have a glass of champagne to mark her birthday. He said he had not felt this good in years which was why the heart attack was so unexpected. Celia is in a state of total shock.”

Floyd, in his trademark bow tie, and Mrs Martin had gone to Hix Oyster and Fish House in Lyme Regis run by fellow celebrity chef Mark Hix. The £120 lunch was to be his last meal. Lunch included Champagne with a cherry soaked in apple eau de vie, £11.50, a glass of Pouilly Vinzelles 2006 Burgundy, £49 a bottle, Oysters with potted shrimp and toast, £12.70, two glasses Fils Cotes de Rhône 2007, £21.50 a bottle, Red Legged partridge with bread sauce, £21.50, pear cider made into jelly, £6.50. The lunch included a number of cigarettes. The lunch went on the menu yesterday as “Floyd’s Last Supper”.

Mr Hix said: “He ordered the grouse but my chef served partridge. He saw the funny side of it. He told my manager to slow down on the booze. He wouldn’t have been the same without a glass of wine in his hand.”

Tributes were led last night by his friend of more than two decades Marco Pierre White who said: "He inspired a nation to want to cook, which very few chefs have done. His confidence at the stove was extraordinary. He was a beautiful man, very kind, and supportive. He was a truly great man. He will never be replaced.”

Jamie Oliver said: "Keith was not just one of the best, he was the best television chef. An incredible man who lived life to the full and an inspiration to me and to so many others."

Gordon Ramsay said: "[he was] a natural performer and a superb cook. He broke new ground with his programmes and his contribution to television cookery was immense."

Raymond Blanc said Floyd would be sadly missed. “In his own characteristic way, Floyd was a genius,”he said.

Floyd, a journalist and army officer before going into restaurants, was divorced four times, and was declared bankrupt in 1996 and 2001. He suffered a small stroke in 2002 and was convicted of drink driving in 2004 after crashing his car into another vehicle.

Quotes from his mouth:

“Food is life, life is food. If you don't like my approach you are welcome to go down to McDonalds.” From his blog, February 2007

'They (TV chefs) have all been seduced by TV... All they can do is assemble pieces of gastronomic Lego without having the faintest idea where they f****** come from.” Keith Meets Keith documentary broadcast on Channel 4 on Monday night

"Don't ever go into the restaurant business. It kills marriages, it kills relationships and it kills life" - Extract from Stirred But Not Shaken, his new autobiography.

“We went to buy fried fish here (in India) and we simply went to the stall which had the longest queue; that's how I can tell. You let the locals vote for the food.” Interview with Pakistan Daily Times 2004

"Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love." From his 1989 book: A Feast of Floyd